Although currently closed to new investors, the managers of this 5-star, Gold-rated international fund have shown their willingness to reopen it after market dips.
Greg Carlson: The Morningstar Medalist of the Week is Artisan International Value. This fund is run by David Samra and Dan O'Keefe.
Samra has been a manager on the fund since the fund's 2002 inception. O'Keefe joined him as an analyst on the fund at the beginning and was named a co-manager in 2006. The duo both worked as analysts under David Herro at Oakmark International previously for five years.
They run a concentrated portfolio of 40 to 50 stocks. They tend to be quite selective because they are looking for companies that have a good return on capital and good balance sheets that are selling at cheap prices. That's a fairly rare combination. They are looking for companies that have endured shorter-term issues.
Their emphasis on the higher-quality end of the value spectrum means that the funds tend to hold up better in down markets, particularly 2008. They won the Morningstar International-Stock Fund Manager of the Year award for 2008's performance. But the fund has also outperformed occasionally in rallies, such as 2013, when it again won the Morningstar International-Stock Fund Manager of the Year award.
The fund has been closed to new investors for much of the past seven years. However, the managers have been willing to reopen it when the assets start to flow out as they did after the 2008-09 bear market. This is a great fund. Watch out if it does reopen down the road.
